Okavango Challenge

What experiments on ecology can I do?
I need to design and carry out an experiment to investage any ecological aspect. To be presented as a scientific report.
(Last year of High school/College level).

Of course it needs to be practical and small scale (not results which take years or months).

My resources, basic labatory equipment eg. Bunsen burner, pipes, flasks. Access to forests, creeks, rivers ect. Low access to large wildlife, more to insects & sort.

I live in Australia, Brisbane.

I’m thinking of showing that if it is possible to establish a flammability rating system by determining different shrub’s/plants/bark/leaves ignitability, consumability, combustibility, & sustainability.

Thanks in advance.

Your flammability idea is pretty good actually. You could go into the bush and mark out some transects (basically, squares of land of equal size ), and then take sample of the plants growing there and test their flammability etc in a lab. Then for the same transects estimate the percentage cover provided by those particular plants and then calculate how susceptible to fire that area is. If you did this for a couple of different environments you could compare the vulnerability of different areas. Maybe compare a disturbed habitat with weeds etc with one that is closer to natural state?